The Real Threat

I know there have been quite a few articles written about the decline and/or demise of the Democratic party. The GOP had an unstoppable ground game. Social issues favored the GOP. Blacks, Hispanics, and Jews all trended toward the GOP. America's shifting demographics are making Republican states bigger and Democratic states smaller. Young voters are growing more conservative each year. Etc., etc., etc.

All this may have varying degrees of validity but it's not the Democratic party's biggest problem. Look at this county map of the national election. Republicans are all over the place, Democrats in relatively few places. Democrats are tightly packed in dense urban environments. Dense urban environments are big, fat targets for terrorists. Especially terrorists with an NBC capability. Two nukes could make the Democratic party the minority party for at least a generation. Ten nukes could make it a historical curiosity. The Democratic party's big problem is terrorism.

Now, I'm not talking about the politics of a terrorist attack on an American city, I'm just talking about the cold mathematics of getting enough warm bodies to the polls. One nuke in New York City flips NY to the GOP, New Jersey as well if it's a daytime attack. Erase Philadelphia and PA is more conservative than Alabama. And the list goes on for a single attack permanently shifting a state to the GOP column. Cleveland, Chicago, Detroit, Milwaukee, Minneapolis, Portland, Seattle.

Any of these possibilities would be a national disaster of the first magnitude and I hope they never happen. They are, however, possibilities, and ignoring them won't make you safer. But all I can do is warn. It's not my party and it's not my decision.